1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an Internet facsimile and a control method thereof and a communication instruction terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an Internet facsimile has emerged from the viewpoint of decreasing communication costs with rapid expansion of the Internet.
The Internet facsimile has a function of transferring data as it is connected to a local area network (LAN) and the Internet, and a function of performing normal facsimile message transmission and reception via a public switched telephone network (PSTN).
In the normal facsimile transmission (or fax transmission), a document described on paper is read through a facsimile (or fax) and the read document is transmitted to the fax of the destination via the public switched telephone network. In contrast, in the Internet facsimile, a document, etc., is transmitted from a personal computer, etc., that can be connected to the Internet to the Internet facsimile of the destination as electronic mail (or E-mail).
Such an Internet facsimile makes it possible to transmit and receive image information between remote locations and reduce the communication costs drastically. The Internet facsimile can transmit a document to the associated Internet facsimile without outputting data to paper from a personal computer, etc. Therefore, the Internet facsimile contributes to implementation of an economical and efficient system network.
As one of the functions of the Internet facsimile, a function called E-mail to Fax Gateway is available for transmitting by fax a document, etc., received as E-mail to the specified fax. In the E-mail to Fax Gateway function, E-mail received at the Internet facsimile is transmitted by fax to the fax of the destination. Therefore, the received document, etc., can be printed out on the fax of the destination regardless of whether or not the fax is compatible with Internet facsimile.
The E-mail to Fax Gateway function uses the Internet in the portion of a relay line (assuming a long distance). Therefore, communications conducted mainly as fax communications are conducted via the Internet, whereby the communication costs can be decreased. Of course, to communicate with an associated terminal having no Internet facsimile function, the E-mail to Fax Gateway function is also a useful function.
By the way, hitherto, in the Internet facsimile installing the E-mail to Fax Gateway function, the telephone number of the destination, for example, FAX=+81487905111@fujixerox.co.jp has been set in the E-mail (SMTP) destination (To: field) field in the Gateway specification method.
At the time, to use an F code (control command) function in facsimile communications, FAX=+81487905111/T33S=XXXX@fujixerox.co.jp has been set (specified).
However, in the F code function specification method in the related art, P code (password) for the F code function cannot be sent.
However, if the P code is simply sent like the F code, it is feared that a third party may steal glance at or peep the code on the Internet, and thus the P code cannot be provided by similar means to that for the F code.
That is, in the related art, the P code for the F code function cannot be sent and thus the mail box of the fax transfer destination machine cannot be accessed.
As described above, the F code function specification method in the Internet facsimile having the E-mail to Fax Gateway function in the related art does not involve a mechanism for sending the P code (password) for the F code function with safety and thus has the disadvantage that the mail box of the fax transfer destination machine cannot be accessed.
The Internet facsimile installing the E-mail to Fax Gateway function involves a security problem of accepting all mail containing a fax transfer instruction and executing fax transfer.
To transfer electronic mail by fax, the address information (mainly, telephone number) of the Internet fax as the source in facsimile communications is only sent to the facsimile of the transfer destination and the mail address of the transmission source of the electronic mail is not sent.
That is, there is a possibility that illegal use (step) of (fax transfer) from the Internet will be made. This means that the transmitting party can pretend to be another party and conduct fax communications requiring the communication charge without the charge to the transmitting party. Accordingly, the relay machine stepped for the fax transfer suffers an enormous loss of the communication charge, etc.
In the Internet facsimile in the related art, normally the formats of files attached to E-mail (SMTP) that can be expanded are limited to TIFF-FX or text. Therefore, if a file in a different format such as WORD, EXCEL, or PDF is attached, it cannot be expanded at the receiving party and is discarded assuming that the communication itself does not exist; this is a problem.
To solve this problem, it is considered that various products of application software are previously built in the Internet facsimile for expanding a document attached to electronic mail. However, many document formats exist and it is virtually impossible to provide all application software products so as to be compatible with all formats.
Often the version of application software is updated and the file format is changed accordingly. Therefore, it is necessary to follow the file format change; in fact, however, it is very difficult to follow the file format change.
Normally, in Internet facsimile communications, header information is added to a document transmitted in Internet facsimile communications like electronic mail. The header information contains a Priority header. This Priority header has been originally used to specify the priority of processing in an electronic mail distribution server; at present, however, it is often used as an index to show the emergency or importance for the electronic mail receiver.
However, the Internet facsimile does not use the Priority header for processing and basically discards the Priority header in read. Since a specifying section for specifying the priority does not exist in the normal facsimile communications, the Internet facsimile cannot perform processing using the priority; this is a problem.
The Internet fax installing the E-mail to Fax Gateway function in the related art assumes that the E-mail (SMTP) header, the main body of mail, and the contents of an attached file of a document, an image, etc., are described on continuous paper, and transmits the E-main by fax to the specified fax.
Therefore, the Internet fax in the related art outputs the header, the main body of mail, and the contents of an attached file without page delimiters and thus the received document is very hard to read; this is a problem. One document to be output to one page may be output across two pages in some cases and the output document cannot be used intact; this is a problem. In the method, the header information which does not occur if a normal fax is used to transmit a document by fax is added and thus more information than is necessary is transferred from the Internet fax to the destination, increasing the information amount; this is a problem.
To use the Internet facsimile, anybody can easily transmit information by fax, but various charges including the communication charge required for facsimile transmission are to the installation party or person of the Internet facsimile; this is a problem.